Old Habits Die Hard
by bookloverextreme
Summary: What if the Flock never got back together after Itex was destroyed? It's been three years since Max defeated Itex, and her, Nudge, Angel, and Total are living with Dr. Martinez and Ella. What if one day the run into Fang and his Flock?
1. Chapter 1

_Summary: What if the Flock never got back together after Itex was destroyed? It's been three years since Max defeated Itex, and her, Nudge, Angel, and Total are living with Dr. Martinez in Arizona. What if, one day while they are out shopping they run into Fang and his Flock?_

_This is my first fanfic, so it probably sucks, and if it does suck please don't be too harsh in the reviews!!_

_Disclaimer: Hmmmm, am I James Patterson? Let's check. –elevator music while penelle checks to see if she's J.P.- Nope, not J.P. –sigh- and I was so hoping I was..._

Max POV

Me, Nudge, Angel, and Total were hovering over the beach where we were supposed to meet up with Fang, Iggy and Gazzy.

"You guys can go down if you want," I said, "but I'm not."

"Why not?" asked Nudge.

I sighed. "The less people I put in danger the better." I looked down at the beach again, wishing I hadn't come to this decision. "You guys should go down there. You'll be safer without me."

"I'm not leaving you," said Angel. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was going to get stubborn if I tried to argue.

"I'm not going to leave you either," said Nudge.

"And I'm going to stick with Angel," said Total from inside my jacket.

"Well then," I said trying hard not to cry. I had come to the decision to not join back up with Fang and his Flock last night. Not only did I not want to put them in danger, I also didn't want to have to sort out all the stupid emotions I had towards Fang. It just wasn't something I could deal with, not now at least.

"We should probably get going," said Nudge, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Ya," I agreed. "Let's go."

_I know her reasons for leaving Fang and his flock are lame, but I had to get the story going. _

_Please review!!! If you do, I'll give you an imaginary cookie!!!!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Hi guys!! I'm back!! Thanks to the people who reviewed!_

_Rachel: do you think you could log in next time so that I could reply to your review via e-mail? This is the time when Fang is randomly kissing Max, and she doesn't want to have to deal with that. She thinks she will be putting them in danger because she always thinks she's putting people in danger, it's just what she does. Yes, as you will see in this chapter, they are going to school._

_It's been three years since the Flock split up, so Max, Fang, and Iggy are 17, Nudge is 14, Gazzy is 11, and Angle is 9. Have fun reading!_

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Chapter 2 

I was dreaming. I could tell I was dreaming because a) we (the Flock and me) were being chased by Flyboys, and we haven't seen them since we destroyed Itex, and b) Iggy, and Gazzy were there with him, and we hadn't seen them in years. Three years to be exact.

We were flying really fast, trying to get away from the Flyboys, buy we couldn't fly fast enough. They caught up with us, and we were forced to fight.

It all started happening very quickly then. I was in the middle of beating a Flyboy to a pulp, when I saw Gazzy disappear. Before I had time to react, Iggy disappeared too. By now, I wasn't paying much attention to the Flyboys.

I turned to where he was, starting to feel panicked at the thought of him disappearing too. Even as I watched he started disappearing, becoming transparent. It was only a matter of seconds until…

"No!" I yelled as I say up in bed, right when my alarm went off.

I hit the off button as I tried to calm myself down. I'd had that dream off and on over the past couple of years, but I never got used to it.

I got dressed, and went downstairs into the kitchen. Mom was making breakfast with help from Angel, who was already dressed and ready to go. Ella was sitting at the kitchen table, working on the homework she was supposed to have done last night.

"Morning," I said, sitting down next to Ella.

"Max, could you go make sure that Nudge is up?" Mom asked me. "I don't want you to be late for school again because she overslept."

"Ya, sure," I said, getting back up and heading towards the stairs.

Yes, you read right. We are in currently going to school. Weird, right? So far it was going alright. Nothing to weird had happened, such as an army of new and improved robots hadn't shown up to try and capture us.

I walked into the room Nudge and Angel shared and was surprised to see Nudge dressed and ready to go, staring at a calendar.

"Hey," I said, sitting down next to her on her bed. "What's up?"

"Do you know what day it is?" she asked quietly.

"Umm, Monday?" I said, not really sure what she was getting at.

"It's been three years," she said even quieter, continuing to stare at the calendar.

I sighed. I knew what she was talking about now. It had been three years since we split up for good.

I put my arm around her shoulders. "You should come downstairs, Mom just finished making breakfast."

"I'll be down in a minute," she said, sounding sad.

"'Kay," I said, getting up and heading back downstairs.

We didn't talk about them much. It hurt too much. I didn't regret my decision to leave them, considering all the horrible things that have happened since then. I just wished I knew if they were alright. He hadn't written anything on his blog since we split up, so I had no idea where they were, or if they were even still… _No!_, I thought. _They're fine, probably hiding out on some island or something._

By now, you are probably wondering where the Voice is. Well, the Voice wasn't exactly thrilled about my decision to split the Flock up. It seemed to think that I needed everyone to save the world. But, I completely ignored it, and split us up anyways. I hadn't heard it since then.

"Is she up?" Mom asked as I came down the stairs, again.

"Ya," I said, grabbing a plate and getting some breakfast. "She'll be down here in a second."

"Actually, I'm down here now," said Nudge, coming down the stairs. She also grabbed some breakfast and joined me, Ella, and Angel at the table.

"Oh," said Angel, looking at Nudge. "I didn't realize that was today."

I was willing to bet 50 bucks I knew what she was talking about.

"It is," said Nudge, looking down at her plate.

"What's today?" asked Ella, trying to catch up.

"Nothing," I said getting up and putting my plate in the sink, even though I had hardly touched my breakfast. "We should get going if we don't want to be late for school."

"Ya, we should," agreed Nudge, also getting up.

As I was walking out the door and to the car, I heard Ella ask, "What did I say?"

Angel quietly replied before walking out the door, "It's been three years."

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_So, what did you think? I won't know if you don't review! So please, please, please review!!! This time, you'll get an imaginary piece of raw cookie dough!!_

_P.S. Did you notice that Max can't say Fang's name, not even in her mind? I wanted to throw in some references to Twilight, and I figured that was a good one._

_Again, please review!_


	3. Chapter 3

_OMG!!!!!!! I made majorette!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

_Since I'm so happy about making majorette, I decided to write the next chapter!! _

_Disclaimer: If I was James Patterson or some other famous author, do you really think that I'd be writing on fanfic?  
_

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Chapter 3

After we dropped Angel off at school, we drove to the high school. I smiled as I pulled into our usual spot (yes, I can drive legally now) and saw my boyfriend, Cody, waiting for me. It sounds, weird, doesn't it? Me having a boyfriend. But it's true, and I couldn't be happier. Well, of course I'd be happier if they were with us, but that's not the point.

"Hi," I said to him, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey, babe," he replied, taking my hand.

Nudge rolled her eyes, and walked off to class. Her and Ella didn't like Cody, and hated that I was dating him.

"See ya later, Max," said Ella, walking just as quickly as Nudge had. I sighed. You'd think they'd get used to him after 2 months.

Once Ella walked away, he kissed me on the lips. It didn't last long, but it was enough to make my heart speed up. "We should probably get to class," he said.

"Ya," I agreed, still slightly dazed from him kissing me.

"I'll see you at lunch then?" he said.

"I promised Nudge and Ella that I would sit with them today," I said, wishing I hadn't made that promise.

"That's fine," he said. "I'll just see you some other time."

"Ya," I agreed. He quickly kissed me again, said "Bye," and then walked off to class.

I smiled again. He was such a great boyfriend. I never got why Nudge and Ella didn't like him.

I quickly walked to class, running a little late. I walked into class, barely making it before the bell rang. I wasn't the latest one, though. Right after the bell rang, a boy walked in. He was tall and had dark hair and eyes.

"Class," said our teacher, Mr. Whitsett. "We have a new student, named – " he trailed off turning towards the new guy.

"Nick," he said. "Nick Ride."

I stared at him, eyes wide. Did he really just say his name was Nick Ride?

"Well Nick," said Mr. Whitsett, "Why don't you take a seat over there by Maxine."

"Actually, I go by Max," I whispered as he sat down next to me.

"Nice to meet you, Max," he whispered back.

All through the class, I sensed him looking at me, but when I looked over him, he was always looking in another direction. I knew he was looking at me though. I could feel it.

When the bell rang, I turned towards him, and finally caught him looking at me. "Why do you keep staring at me?" I asked, deciding I should just get to the point.

"I was just going to ask you where Mrs. Davis's classroom is," he said, giving me a weird look.

"Oh," I said. I hadn't expected that. "It's right next to this room. You should be able to find it pretty easily."

"Thanks," he said. Then he got up and walked away.

My next couple of classes went by pretty quickly. A lot of the time I felt myself wondering about Nick. I couldn't wait to get to lunch so that I could listen to Nudge and hopefully forget about Nick, and how he looked so much like him.

"Hey," I said, sitting down at the table Nudge and Ella were at.

"Hi, Max," said Nudge. "Do those guys look familiar to you?" she asked, motioning to a table a little ways away from ours.

I immediately saw who she was talking about. At a table near ours, was the guy from my class, and another boy who had strawberry blonde hair. They did look familiar…

"I don't recognize them," I lied. There was no reason we should get our hopes up for nothing.

"The dark haired one, Nick, is in one of my classes," said Ella, joining in the conversation.

"Ya, he's in one of my classes, too," I said.

"He's cute," said Nudge, still staring at them.

"They're both cute," said Ella, also turning to stare at them. At that point, I decided to block out the conversation. Listening to Ella and Nudge go on and on about the cuteness of certain guys was not exactly my idea of fun.

I couldn't help but look back over where Nick was sitting. Nudge was right, they did look familiar. But, it couldn't be them, right? It was just impossible.

_You of all people should know that nothing is impossible, Maximum._

Voice? Is that you?!

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_So, do you like it? hate it? think I should immediately discontinue the story? tell me in a review!!! _


	4. Chapter 4

_Hey guys!! I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in so long. I've been busy. I've been in Italy for awhile, so I haven't been able to get on the internet, let alone update. But, it's here now, so please enjoy!!!_

_Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm not James Patterson_

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Chapter 4

I gasped. I hadn't heard from the Voice in three years. I'd thought it was gone for good, but no, it was back to tell me how I needed to save the world and all that crap.

_Now that the Flock is back together you can save the world._

"What do you mean, 'Now that the flock is back together'?" I asked. There was just no way it was them. But, of course, it wouldn't be right for the Voice to answer a direct question, now would it?

"Max, are you okay?" asked Nudge, looking at me like I'd gone insane.

That's when I realized that I had said that last part out loud.

"I'm fine," I said getting up and grabbing my tray. "I'm just going to go ahead and go."

I was so absorbed in my thoughts that I didn't notice the person in front of me until I bumped into him.

"Sorry," I said. Then I saw who I bumped into.

"It's okay," he said turning to look at me. "I'm Jeff, by the way."

"I'm Max," I said.

_Don't you think he looks a lot like Iggy?_ asked the Voice.

_Maybe a little, or a lot, _I thought back. _But this guy can see._

And it was true, too. Jeff was definitely looking at me, not just looking in the direction my voice was coming from.

"I should probably be heading to class," I said, wanting to get away as soon as possible.

"Ya, me too," he said, "I'll see you around."

"See ya," I replied, quickly turning around and for the second time that day bumping into someone.

"You seem to be bumping into people a lot," said Nick, smirking at me.

_You have to admit that he looks exactly like Fa—_

"Don't say his name!" I said. Then I stopped, realizing that again, I'd said that out loud. I really wasn't used to having the Voice in my head again.

"Are you okay, Max?" asked Nick, his smirk getting even bigger. "You seem kinda…"

"Insane?" said Jeff, also smirking.

"I'm fine," I said. "I'm just going to get going now."

_The Voice just had to show up now,_ I thought, starting to get really pissed off.

"Are you sure your okay?" asked Jeff.

"I'm fine," I repeated.

"Okay," said Jeff. "I'll see ya around."

"Ya," said Nick. "See ya."

Then the two of them just walked off, as calm as ever, like nothing had happened. Off course, nothing had happened, right? Other than me seeing to guys who looked a lot alike some people I used to know. They just looked like them, or at least, that's what I kept trying to tell myself.

The rest of the day went by uneventfully. Nick and Jeff weren't in any of the rest of my classes, and the Voice didn't say anything for the rest of the day. I was starting to think that this was a onetime thing, and hopefully it would never happen again. But of course my life couldn't be that east.

_Why am I not allowed to say Nick's real name? _the Voice asked as I was walking to my car.

_Because,_ I thought back.

_That isn't a very good reason,_ the Voice said.

"Hey, Max," said Nick as he came up behind me. "What's up?"

"Nothing much," I muttered.

"You seem kind of stressed," he said. "Why is that?"

"None of your business," I said.

"I was thinking you might not be sleeping well," he said.

"Huh?" I said. I had no idea what he was getting at.

"Well, you might be having a weird dream that would disrupt your sleep, causing you to act strangely," Nick continued.

"What kind of dream?" I asked, still confused.

"You might be dreaming about flying of something," he answered.

"Flying?" I said hesitantly.

"Of you might actually be flying, either or," Nick added.

"Your crazy," I said.

"Am I?" he said, starting to smirk.

"Yes, you are," I said. "Now, if you don't mind, I should probably get going."

Before he could say anything else I quickly walked over to my car, unlocked the door and climbed in.

_I think he might be on to you, _the Voice said.

_You think?_ I snapped back.

Some much for my life being normal.

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_I'm sorry it's so short! I'll try and make it longer next time!!!_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I sat in the car fuming until Ella and Nudge showed up. Of course, as soon as they got in the car, they immediately noticed that something was wrong and decided that, instead of letting me work it out myself, they needed to fix it for me.

"What's wrong?" Nudge asked as soon as she sat down. "Did Cody do something? Did a teacher do something? Did you see Jeb? Did you see an Eraser? Did—"

"Nudge!" I exclaimed, cutting her off. "No to all of the possible scenarios as to what could've gone wrong in my day. I just had a bit of a bad day, that's all."

"Oh," she muttered, looking crestfallen. She must have really been hoping that Cody had broken up with me.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it Max?" Ella asked. "Sometimes it's good to talk things out."

_She is right, Max,_ the Voice chimed in. _Talking things out is a good thing._

"There is nothing wrong," I said angrily. "Now if you wouldn't mind, I would like some peace and quiet."

Which is exactly what I got. Peace and quiet while Nudge and Ella exchanged glances, trying to figure out how to get me to talk. I was relieved when we got to Angel's school. Angel was always a good tension breaker, and part of that reason was because she could read minds, and therefore know which topics to avoid.

_Oh shit!!_ I thought panicked. _Angel can read minds!!!_ I had completely forgotten that. Now she was going to find out about Nick, no matter how hard I tried.

You see, the older Angel got, the more advanced her powers became. Now, she could read every thought a person had ever had, no matter how hard you tried to block her.

So now, Angel was going to know that Nick was and Iggy were back. And of course she would want to see them, and get back together with them and all that, which I definitely didn't want to do.

"Hey, Angel," said Nudge as Angel climbed into the back seat. "How was school?"

"It was good," she said, distractedly, probably already going through my memories of the day. "But apparently not as good as Max's."

I sighed. At least she hadn't said anything about what had really happened during my day.

At this point I should probably mention that the intermediate school that Angel goes to is right next to the middle school. And when I was pulling out of the parking lot I just happened to look over at said middle school. And when I looked over, I saw something that made my heart break. It was Gazzy. I had missed three years of his life, all because I was scared. And while I was making this startling realization, I ran the car into a tree. This day was just getting better and better.

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_Hey guys!! I know the chapter is short, but at least I updated! _

_R&R please!!  
_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Max!!" Nudge yelled. "You just ran into a tree!"

"You think I didn't notice that?" I asked sarcastically. "Report," I said.

"I'm okay," said Nudge from the back seat.

"I'm okay too," Ella added.

"I want to go talk with him," Angel said calmly, looking out the window.

"Angel, I—" I started, and the stopped as I looked in the direction Angel was staring. Running towards us was Gazzy, closely followed by Iggy and...well you know who else was with them.

"Shit," I muttered, as people started crowding around the car. "Shit, shit, shit!"

"Since when do you cuss?" Ella asked, trying to open the door.

"Since now," I snarled. I glanced out the window and was horrified to see that Gazzy had made it to the car and was opening the door closest to Angel.

"Angel!!" he said grabbing her out and giving her a hug. "I never thought I would see you again!"

"Shit," I said again, as Iggy pulled open Ella's door.

"Ohmigosh!" exclaimed Nudge. "I only so you guys from far away, so I had no idea it was you!! Omigosh!! Max it's—"

"I know, Nudge," I said angrily, shoving my door open.

As soon as I got out of the car I saw _Fang _(I should probably get used to thinking his name again) smirking at me.

"You ran into a tree," he said looking at the car, that had obviously hit a tree.

"I noticed," I said back.

"Did you think it would look good to have a big dent in the front of the car, or where you trying to look like an idiot," he said, his smirk getting bigger.

"Could you just shut up please?" I said. I felt like I was about to cry from all the stress and she sure as hell wasn't helping.

"Are you alright?" he asked, looking concerned suddenly. I forgot how well he could read me.

"I'm fine," I said, feeling tears starting to spill over. "I just need to leave."

I started walking away, heading over to an area where I could take off, when Fang suddenly grabbed my arm, stopping me from going anywhere.

"I'll come with you," he told me, grabbing my arm and yanking me over.

"No you won't," I said, trying to get away. He's stronger than I remembered.

"Yes, I will," he said calmly, pulling me over behind the school. I watched as he pulled off his sweatshirt and whipped out his wings. "Well?" he said, turning to me.

"Right," I muttered. I quickly took my hoddie off and shook my wings out. "Where are we going?"

"Not sure," Fang said. I watched as he took off, looking amazing and graceful. I couldn't help but admire him for a moment before taking off too.

I followed him for a couple of miles, when we landed in a clearing in the middle of a forest. As soon as we landed I sat down with my back against a tree and he sat down next to me. I could feel the tears still threatening to fall, so I decided I probably shouldn't talk. I figured he would say something eventually. Maybe.

"Well?" I said eventually. "What do you want?"

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked after a couple of minutes.

"Huh?" I said, confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you left," Fang said. "Obviously I did something wrong." He said it calmly enough, but I could tell that he was really upset about it.

"You didn't do anything wrong," I explained. "I was the one who was stupid."

"Why couldn't we have talked it out?" he asked, his voice getting louder. "Why didn't you stay? Do you know how upset Gazzy was? Angel was his sister, and you just took her away! No contact for years!! What the hell where you thinking?!"

For a minute I didn't know what to say. I'd never seen Fang lose his temper like that, ever. Too late I realized I was crying right in front of him. "I'm sorry," I whispered. "I'm so sorry."

"I am too," he said, already sounding calmer. "I didn't mean to make you cry."

"That's okay," I muttered, wiping the tears away. I looked down, waiting for him to say more, and was surprised to hear silence. I looked up to see his face very close to mine. And then he leaned in and kissed me. This was one crazy day.

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_So, I have a little Fax in this chapter. There will be more in the next one. It might seen OOC for Max to break down like that, but she's been beating herself up about leaving Fang and his flock so the whole mental break down thing was bond to happen sometime. And now Fang's there to comfort her! _

_R&R!!  
_


	7. Author's Notes

_Hey guys!! Well, I'm officially stuck. I'm trying to get from point a, to point c, and it's not really working. Could you guys maybe give me some suggestions of light stuff to put in between? Anything would be useful at this point. Thanks guys!!!!_


	8. Chapter 7

_Hey guys!! Sry its been awhile since i updated, but i hav all this homework to do. Stupid ninth grade math._

_Disclaimer: I keep forgetting to put this on here. So...no, i do not own Maximum Ride or any other best-selling book, no matter how much i wish i did.  
_

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Chapter 7

It took me a couple of seconds to come back to earth and remember that I had a boyfriend, and that the guy I was kissing wasn't said boyfriend. I didn't want to pull away, but I made myself. I have to admit, that part of me wanted to go break up with Cody, and then get back together with Fang. But some rational part of my mind was telling me I shouldn't do that. I hate being rational.

"I'm sorry," I said breaking the kiss. "I-I have a boyfriend."

Before Fang could say anything I flew away, not really paying attention to where I was going. At some point, I decided I should probably fly back to where my car was, and started heading that way. I landed behind Angel's school, and pulled my hoodie back on. It looked like Ella had everything covered, so I decided to just fly around some more, try to clear my head.

I was sitting in a tree in s forest near my house when my cell phone rang. "Hello?" I said, flipping open my phone.

"Hey babe," said Cody. "How about we go out tonight?"

"Sounds great," I said, glad that I was going to have something to get my mind off of the chaos that I seemed to be attracting.

"How 'bout I pick you up in an hour? We could go see a movie."

"I'll just meet you at the movies," I said. "Bye."

"Bye," he said, hanging up.

I smiled. At least the day wouldn't e completely ruined, that is, if my mom would let me out of the house after wrecking my car and disappearing.

I decided I might as well head back towards my house, since I needed to get ready. I decided that I would go through my bedroom window and hope my mom didn't notice me. I would just fly to the movies.

When I got into my bedroom I was surprised to hear voices coming from the room next door. I was even more surprised to hear who those voices were.

"I'm not sure how I ended up getting my sight back," I heard Iggy saying. "It kept getting better and better, and one day, I could see again."

"Wow," I heard Nudge saying. "That is so cool."

"Did you guys see anymore Flyboys?" Angel asked.

"Almost every day," Gazzy answered. "And if it wasn't Flyboys, it was some new robot thing that was even worse than Flyboys."

"That's weird," Nudge said. "We never saw any Flyboys."

"I guess Fang's theory about there being some chip in me leading them to us was wrong," I heard Total say. _(AN Yay!!! I remembered to put Total in the story!!!)_

"So you never saw Flyboys? Ever?" Iggy asked.

"Nope," Nudge said.

At that point, I quickly got ready, and hopped out the window, trying my best not to focus on their conversation. Unfortunately, what with the super hearing and all, I heard pretty much every word.

I landed in an alleyway by the movie theater, and pulled on the hoodie I had brought with me to cover my wings. When I got around front, I saw Cody standing there waiting for me.

"Hi," I said walking up to him and kissing him quickly.

"Hey," he said smiling. "What movie do you want to see?"

"Is there anything good showing?" I asked, examining the list of movies showing. It was then I started to hear screaming.

I turned around to see what was going on, and saw for the first time in years, deadly robots flying straight towards us. "What the hell are those?" I heard Cody ask, looking at the flying robots heading straight for us.

"This isn't good," I muttered, not even paying attention to Cody anymore. "This really isn't good."

"Are you okay, Max?" Cody asked me, noticing that I was starting to panic.

"I'm fine," I muttered, staring at the robots flying closer and closer. "Maybe we should leave."

"Why?" Cody asked. "I want to see what these robots are for."

"Are you crazy?" I said. "We need to get out of here."

"Calm down Max," Cody said. "This is probably just some promotional thing."

At that point, I just ignored Cody and focused on the fact that the robots were getting closer and closer, and all anyone seemed to want to do was stare at them, instead of, say, running away in terror.

_See Max? I told you you could save to world now._

"Shut up Voice!" I said, not caring that I was speaking out loud. That was about the time that the robots starting shooting at me.

I quickly took my hoodie off and was in the air in seconds, flying away as fast as I could. When I turned back to see if I was being followed, I was glad to see that I wasn't. Then I was why I wasn't being followed. They were too busy kidnapping the people waiting in line. And one of the people they were taking was Cody.

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_Sry its kinda short. I sure am apoligizing a lot, arent i?_

_R&R!!  
_


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